World briefs

People were rescued or had to swim to safety when an amphibious tour bus sank in Liverpool’s Albert Dock.

A number of people were taken to hospital after the Yellow Duckmarine vessel went under before 4pm on Saturday. A rescue operation – involving police, ambulance, coastguard and the RAF – was mounted and 31 people were helped out of the water.

Of those, 17 people were taken to The Royal Liverpool Hospital for treatment, but all were well enough to be discharged. Nobody was trapped inside the vessel.

The company runs tours on the city’s roads with the promise of a “splashdown” ending. It is the second time in three months that one of the yellow vehicles has sunk. (AP)

School’s porn ‘education’

The headmaster of a top private school in Britain has suggested he could invite a porn star to help teach sex education.

Mark Slater, of The Leys in Cambridge, said a guest speaker with experience of the burgeoning industry could be a good influence on pupils. He said it was now important to “empower” students with good judgment to ensure they understand that pornography can be addictive and damaging.

The headmaster at the co-educational school, which charges fees of up to nearly £28,000 (€33,000) a year, said his school viewed the provision of pastoral care as its most important duty and stressed the need to prepare students for relationships in later life. (AP)

Man falls and lands on sofa

A man working on the roof of a Philadelphia apartment building fell through into one of the units, where a girl watching TV was hit by debris.

Police say the roofer landed on the sofa and was not hurt. They say the 12-year-old girl was taken to a hospital with possibly two broken fingers.

The mishap occurred in north east Philadelphia. (PA)

Thunderbirds’ inventions

Inventions designed by British engineers in the 1960s have been brought to life in a display more in keeping with an episode of the Thunderbirds.

The forgotten designs, which have been unearthed in BAE Systems’ archives, include a hypersonic space-plane capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound, a jeep that leaps over enemy blockades and a commercial aircraft able to take off and land vertically in densely populated cities.

BAE has used animation to show how the projects might have looked if developed further, with many worthy of a place in the fleet of International Rescue in the Thunderbirds science fiction series of the era. (AP)

Cameron works in pyjamas

Early-rising Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted to working in his pyjamas.

Mr Cameron said he began work in Number 10 early each morning before changing into one of the smart suits he is usually associated with.

Answering questions sent in from around the world on the BBC, Mr Cameron was asked if it was difficult living and working in the same place. One viewer from Turkey asked: “Do you sometimes have to do work as Prime Minister in your pyjamas?”

Mr Cameron told the World Have Your Say programme: “I get up pretty early in the morning and I start work before I get dressed into all of this. So I suppose the short answer to that is, yes.” (AP)